Yarn-holding device for knitting machines



A. E. PAGE. YARN HOLDING DEVICE FOR KNITTING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21, 1917.

Patented Nov. 21, 1922..

Patented Nov. 21, 1199225 Wise team ares Parana caries.

ALBERT E. PAGE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO SCOTT & WILLIAMS,

INCORPORATED, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSA- CHUSETTS.

YARN-HOLDING DEVICE FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

Application filed June 21,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT E. PAGE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the borough of Brooklyn, in the city and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Yarn-Holding Devices for Knitting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to yarn holding devices, one specific use of the mechanism herein illustrated being to receive, hold and deliver, if again inserted, the ends of yarns withdrawn during the operation of a knitting machine.

Production of knit articles by automatic machines often requires changes of the yarn being fed to the needles at different times in the production of the article, and when the yarn is so changed that yarn which is withdrawn is clamped or held in a convenient place for reinsertion, and is usually severed between the holding means and the place where it leaves the fabric. Additional yarns, as for spliced or thickened places, may'also be entered upon the needles and again withdrawn, necessitating means to hold the withdrawn end. Automatic yarn feeding and severing devices for these purposes are well known in the art, and form no part of my present invention, which relates to the devices cooperating with the yarn-feeding devices to hold the withdrawn ends. Heretofore some form of mechanically actuated clamp positively opened to receive the yarn has been employed for this'purpose in the best practice. These devices necessitate use of an operating connection difiicult to arrange on many types of machine without adding elements of complexity to machines already notoriously complex, Such mechanically actuated clamps are moreover uncertain in operation, the opening of the clamp late in the operation upon reinsertion of a yarn withdrawn early in the operation, in order to receive the yarn for which the reinserted am is to be substituted, often ermitting tlie reinserted yarn to drag all 0 the other yarns out of the clamp. Repeated 1917. Serial No. 176,075.

opening of the clamp permits the idle yarns between their yarn-guides and the clamp to slacken. so that accurate reinsertion of an idle yarn is not possible. When it is necessary to apply a take-up or heavy tension to any of the yarns, it has heretoforebeen impracticable to retain the end of such yarn without providing means either to lock the take-up out of action or release the tension on that yarn.

Thisinvention provides means for avoiding the above mentioned difficulties, one object being to provide a continuously effective holding means adapted to receive the withdrawn yarn and maintain a tension upon it even when receiving additional yarns, and another object beingto avoid the creation of slack between the holding means and the operated yarn-guide. Other objects are to enable a yarn under take-up strain or..

tension to be effectively held without intermitting the action of the take-up or tension device; to avoid the necessity for a mechanical connection to the yarn-holding means,

and to provide a simple and inexpensive device automatically operating effectively to take and hold/a large number of different kinds of yarns upon the motion against the device of the-yarn to be held.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 isa fragmentary plan of a circular knitting machine showing the latch-ring, needles, yarn feeding and yarn severing devices of an existing type of machine in' use with my new devices;

Figure 2 is an elevation in section on line 22 of Fig. 1, parts being broken away;

Figure 3 is a diagram view similar to Fig. 1, illustrating successive positions taken by inserted yarns;

Fig. 4 is a diagram plan;

Figure 5 is an enlarged side elevation of the spring clamp unattached; and

Figures 6 and 7 are respectively enlarged side and front elevations of the clamp showing the positions taken by said clamp and yarns.

In one specific embodiment of the invenneedles.

tion, a circle of needles n, a latgi-ring 550, and movable yarnguides 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, a yarn-severing device 6, and an Internal plate supported within the needles and upon upon the needles at a point ahead, in the di-' recton of their travel, of the place at which the yarn withdrawn leaves the needles. If the needles are the rotary element, their direction of travel may be that of the arrow at, Fig. 1. On the upper surface of the plate 7, and preferably in a flat depression 8 formed therein I attach a yarn holding device 10 in a osition to receiveyarns such as am 3 ig. 1, when they are withdrawnv rom the needles, said yarns encountering the device 10 by reason of the relative motion of the When the direction is that indicated, referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 4, the device 10 is positioned on the left-hand side of the center of. the machine at a point following the yarn feeding point defined by an active yarn-guide, for mstance asslmwn at 3 in Fig. 1, and between said active yarn-guide and the severing device 6. The plate 7 carrying thedevice 10 may be positioned-relatively to the latch ring 550 by any'suitable bracket or connection, such as the connections 9.

lVithin the genus comprised by my invention the device 10 is capable of many modified forms, but I have herein illustrated the said device as a thin plate spring having a yarn-receiving arm 11 and an attaching arm 12 angularly disposed infa horizontal sense with respect to each other, the body of the device 10 also comprising a yarn-detaining projection 13 projecting toward the yarn feed point, and defining oneither side there of notches 0 and d, respectively to position for holding yarns approaching the device 10 at'different angles and, if desired, under different conditions of tension, whether or not .said'yarns are of similar or widely different sizes.

A part of the arm 11 is bent upwardly from the plane of the body 10 and the greater part of its owrr extent to form in the midst of the length of the arm 11 and F preferably 'near the extremity thereof, a rocking point e at the convexity so formed on the under side of the arm11. The body 10 isaflat andJhe projection 13 may be in the plane of the body 10 or be bent slightly downward. v

The arm 12 is bent slightly at f, the bend being at aline preferably including the point e or passing near it.

In use the structure 10, 11, 12 is attached onthe plane surface 8 by the screw 15 in a hole in arm 12. The bodylO, the greater portion of the arm 11 and the greater portion of the arm12 normally rest on the surface 8 by spring pressure which may be varied by tightening or loosening the screw 15. A yarn entering under the arm 11- may lift said arm by bending it upward without disturbing the position of the part of the device near the juncture of said arms. The edge of the device 10 as shown below in Fig. 1 and toward the observer in Fig. 7, is spring held toward the plate 8 by the resilience of arm 12, and yielding at said arm 12, for instance at the bend f, will permit the body of the device to be lifted away from the surface 8 without lifting the rocking point e from its contact with the surface 8. These properties in the device are functionally useful as will presently appear.

The rocking point e and the arm 11 constitute a tension device adapted to receive a yarn swept past it at a point comparatively near the circle of needles, and nearer the circle of needle than the region of the holder 10 surrounding the notch a, in which the yarns 3 from the yarn guides 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 normally rest. The yarns y normally rest in the notch c by reason of the fact that they are withdrawn to a position elevated with- "of another usual type than that shown.

Yarns may accumulate in the notch c to the extent necessary to accommodate all of those Withdrawn without lifting the rocking point e from the surface 8. e

If it is desired to feed a different kind of yarn, for instance a thicker or thinner yarn, as 3 this may be and is in practice often effected by feeding said yarn at another place than that of the yarn-changing yarn guides 1, 2,3, 4, 5. As shown, a vertically movable feed-guide 20, which may be automatically movable and which forms no part of. my invention, may be emplo ed at the position shown in Fig. 1 for this purpose. or some uses, the yarn y may be heavily tensioned or be subjected to the action of a spring take-up. When, by the elevation of the guide 20, the yarn 3 is withdrawn from the needles, it passes about the various obstructions above the plate 7 and finally enters under the arm 11 and may be severed at vice 10 at its engagement with the yarns y in such a manner as to release anyof them.

The tendency of the spring device 10, 11 and 12 is to depress itself into contact with the surface 8 at all points, and if yarnsinthe notchc arev thicker than those in the notch d or vice versa, the spring device Wlll merely pivot about the thickest obstruction under it and maintain tension on the other yarns. This action of the device permits any of the yarns to be operated under a tension which, if the clamp were mechanically opened or bodily moved away from the surface 8, would release said yarn and cause it to be pulled backthrough its yarn guide. It is not essential that the yarn y or other yarn intended to be positioned in the notch 03 should be'fed from the point 20, since-any position causing said yarn to reach the device 10 at a vertical angle with surface 8 substantially more acute than the angle of the other yarns y will suflice to carry said yarn under the yarns y held in the notch a without disturbing the holding of yarns y.'

For instance, as indicated on the diagram, Fig. 3, a yarn y may instead of or in addition to the yarn y be fed from a guide 21 in advance of guide 20/ It will be observed that the operation of the device 10 with respect to opening and closing to selectively position the different kinds of yarns is brought about by movements of the device 10, 11, 12 effected by the movement against it of the yarns themselves, and is independent of any actuated mechanical connection.

The constantly active tension device comprised of the arm 11 positioned as above described at a point e nearer the needles than the holding points 0 or d for the idle yarns, and within the segment defined by the newly .fed' needles and a chord in the vertical plane of any of the held yarns, see Fig. 4, enables the device as a whole to operate in a manner improved over the function of any yarn holding clamp with which I am familiar.

Referring now to Fig. 3, said figure shows the successive positions of a hitherto idle yarn 3 entered by the yarn guide 3 at the point n the points n n etc., to n indicating successive following positionsof' the entrance point M. The end of'the yarn y in said guide 3 being held under the clamp 10 first presents a taut run 3 But the relative motion of the needles when the point 91 in the needles reaches the place a has slackened the yarn as shown. When the place a is reached, this slack has begun to bend into a bight or loop; when n is reached, this bight or loop is about to pass under the rocking point e of the arm 11 and so to form a bight 3 tensioned on one leg by the original hold of the device 10 and on the other leg by its new passage under the tension arm 11. When the entrance point passes from a to n to 41 this tensioned bight 3 is drawn smaller and is then extinguished, the yarn end 3 passing out from. under the holder 10 when the entrance point passes at a place between the points a and n.

When the yarn 3 so finally leaves the holder 10, it has passed the vertical plane defined by any of the idle yarns. The bight 3 unless it was formed in that yarn g which was last entered into the. clamp or holder, is necessarily in frictional contact with the group of yarns y held under the holder 10; and the rapid withdrawal of the bight or loop thus in frictional contact with the group of clamped yarns has been found to exercise a marked tautening effect on the clamped yarns, gradually pulling the free ends held under the clamp further under the clamp and tightening the yarn between the elevated yarn guides and the clamp. This action is rendered more effective by the twisting together of the yarns always occurring more or less during the occupation of the clamp or holder 10 bysuch yarns. When the yarn y is reinserted upon the needles after having once taken the position shown in Fig. 3, this yarn also is thrown into a bight y which has a still more marked tightening effect on the clamped yarns y, as will be apparent from inspection of Figs. 2 and 7.

The best position of the device 10 within the segment defined by the plane of an idle yarn and the moving needles will vary slightly with changed dimensions of the parts, but it is desirable that a sufficient distance should separate the device lOa-nd the feeding point F, Fig. 4, to form from an inserted yarn an end long enough to produce a bight g of substantial dimensions.

What I claim is 1. A yarn-clamp for knitting machines, consisting of a plate spring having angularly disposed arms, a"body adapted to rest on the yarns having a yarn-detaining projection at the junction of said arms, and means for attaching one of said arms at an extremity thereof to a surface against which the yarns are to be clamped.

2. A knitting machine having therein means to feed yarns and to withdraw said yarns to different positions, in combination with a spring'yarn clamp having notches separated by a yarn-detaining projection adapted to pass into one of said notches a yarn or yarns with-drawn to a certain position and to retain in the other notch yarns Withdrawn to other positions.

3. A spring yarn-clamp comprising an- 5 gularly disposed arms one of Which is bent to form a rocking point and the other of which is adapted to be attached to a supporting surface to yield resiliently trans- 

